Vehicle article holder



P 1953 H. PLEZ'SCHER I 2,634,527

VEHICLE ARTICLE HOLDER Filed Aug. 18, 1947 WWW llYVE/VTOR:

Patented Apr. 14, 1953 l'i'ED STATES TENT OFFICE Application August 18, 1947, Serial No. 769,081 In Switzerland October 26, 1942 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires October 26, 1962 1 Claim.

The present invention has for its object a holder, for use with vehicles, inclusive of bicycles, motor cycles, automobiles and the like.

The holder is distinguished by a flat supporting body which serves for accommodating one or more objects to be retained in the holder, and by a resilient clamping stirrup for clampingly fastening said object or objects to the supporting body, which stirrup overlies said body and is secured at one end on the underside of the body and adapted to exert clamping pressure in the direction towards the upper side of the supporting body on said object or objects.

Preferably the clamping stirrup is formed into a resilient wire loop the two open end portions of which are fastened to the under side of the supporting body, and the looped portion overlies the supporting body marginally of said body and carries at its closed end a presser foot for fastening the objects to be retained by pressure action.

When the holder is to be used in connection with bicycles, it may advantageously be connected to the shank of the front fork above the front wheel.

A modification of such a holder may be so constructed that the fiat supporting body serving as a support for the objects to be retained provides at the same time the bracket for holding the handle-bar. In this way a simplified construction is obtained, due to the fact that, when such a bracket for holding the handle-bar is arranged on a bicycle, no additional supporting means need to be provided.

Embodiments of the present invention are illustrated by way of example only in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 shows a longitudinal section of a holder, according to the present invention, as fastened to the shank of the front fork of a bicycle;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the holder as seen in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a bottom view of the holder;

Fig. 4 shows a cross section on the line IV-IV in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 shows a cross-section on the line V-V in Fig. l.

The holder shown in Figs. 1 to 5 is provided with a flat supporting body l having a plane upper side and two reinforcing ribs 2, 3 that extend in the longitudinal direction of the supporting body on the under side of the latter over the full length of the body l. The middle portion of the two ribs 2, 3 is provided with thickenings at 4 and 5 respectively. These thickenings are provided with longitudinal bores in which are secured the two open ends 6 and l of a clamping stirrup 8 which is made of a piece of spring wire. The wire of the clamping stirrup is bent into a loop which overlies the front portion of the supporting body marginally. At the closed end of the loop a presser foot 9 is articulated to the wire structure, the presser foot being provided for this purpose with a slot IQ for the reception of the wire of the stirrup. By spring action of the stirrup 8 the presser foot 9 is pressed against the upper surface of the flat body I.

The rear end of the fiat supporting body I is provided with an offset portion ll which is adjoined by a further flat portion l2 which has a hole I3 for fastening the holder in position. In the embodiment shown the holder is connected to the shank H! of the front fork of a bicycle by means of the screw I6, which connects the handle-bar l5 with said shank, and associated Washers l1, l8.

For securing an object to the described holder, for example a tourists map I9 (Fig. l), the presser foot 9 is grasped by hand and retracted from the supporting body I, whereupon the object can be pushed under the presser foot so that after the latter is released the object [9 becomes clamped to the flat supporting body i. In retracting the presser foot 9, the spring stirrup 8 is flexed upwards. During this movement of the stirrup 8 the longitudinal ribs 2 and 3 of the supporting body 5 serve as lateral guides for the spring portions 6 and 1, so that the presser foot 9 cannot move laterally even if it is pulled in an oblique direction. Detrimental distortion of the spring wire is also obviated so that the presser foot remains lastingly in correct position above the supporting body i. The spring portions 6, 'l of the stirrup function in such manner that in retracting the presser foot 9 the increase of stressing of the inherent spring of the stirrup is limited at the same time. This is due to said portions bearing against the lower surface of the supporting member from below so that this surface acts as a stop means for the spring portions 6 and 1, thereby limiting the retracting movement of the presser foot. By virtue of the articulation between the presser foot 9 and the stirrup 8, the presser foot is adapted to bear against the object to be retained with its full area at all times.

The fiat supporting member I may, advantageously, be a die-casting which, preferably, consists of a light metal or a thermoplastic material, such as trolltul, polyamid or the like. The body I and the presser foot 9 may, with advantage, be made of trolltul being transparent as glass. This has the advantage to render the holder vitreous, so that, when the holder is fastened to the shank of the front fork of a bicycle, the rider of the bicycle, will, for example, have open sight to the front wheel. Furthermore, when "the holder is fastened zon'a vehicle and is made of a vitreous material, it gives the impression of a light and less conspicuous holder than one made of metal.

By virtue of the offset portion of'ftheffiatrsupporting body, the end 12 which serves for securing the supporting body l"=is*depressed"*relative to the main obj ect-retaining;portion-;of :said'body, so that the connecting screw 16 i'S-nDt '.ObStl 118- tive in placing the object to be retained by the holder on the body I.

When the described holder is fastened to "the shank of the front fork of a vehicle, zitacanbe used for retaining various objects, for example a map, which ispractical. forcycle-rriding tourists or..military .cycleeriders .since .the rider 1 can .observe a..map witheaseeven during the run. :Or

the holder maybe. used for retaininga hat,. a .coat or other -garments, .or'ladies satchels small luggage and so forth. .In this connection the .ad--

vantage ensues that the object retained -in 'the holder can continuously -be watched, so that .no

danger .exists 'for the objects wgoing -,lost, contrary to -.objects being transported .on luggage carriers .supported .from -,the .rear wheel. JI'he holder is also lpractical f for .cycle-ridin dealers,

forwardingagents cashiers-and so.on,-.due..to'-the factv that .invoices,-.bills .of carriage-and otherforshown .is serviceable with advantage -.not only ,for cycle-.r-iders-fbut obviously ealso aforuse [with motorcycles, -.-.automobiles, delivery tend :other vehicles.

I claim: "A device of :the character described comprising an elongated plate adapted to be attached to a motor vehicle at one end of said plate, said plate forming a substantially flat supporting face for accommodating an object to be retained in 5 the holder, a spring wire clamping member carried by said plate, a pressure foot carried by said spring wire to exert pressure on the object to be 'retained on said supporting face, said clamping member being formed by two spring wire '10 branches having their ends secured to said plate .zattthe' underside thereof and near the end of the plate by which this latter is to be attached, "said spring branches from said secured end extending underneath the plate towards the other end1thereof with a gradually increasing distance unovement of said springbranches extending underneath the plate when the pressure .foot is raised for accommodation of an object on said supporting face.

HANS PIETSCHER.

References .Citedin theffile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 260,53? Clough July l, 1882 609,690 -Mayerson Aug.'23, 1898 "1,519,883 Stewart Dec. 16, 1924 1,573,447 "Prewitt Feb. 16, 1926 1,733,293 Brow Oct. 29, 1929 1,965,593 -Howard July 10, 1934 1,993,589 Borden Mar. 5, 1935 2,321,192 Fischer June'8, 1943 

